The THAADS system is produced by top defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT).

The U.S. has deployed the THAADS interceptor trucks to Guam.
[Image Source: Lockheed Martin]

While U.S. defense experts doubt North Korea would be able to hit the U.S. mainland with a nuclear missile, Guam -- 2,000 away from the hostile Asian dictatorship -- might be a slightly more feasible target. Both South Korea and Japan have extensive interceptor systems, which are likely on high alert.

U.S. ally Israel provided the most impressive real-world demonstration of a missile-interception system to date. Its "Iron Dome" system shot down approximately 9 out of 10 missiles that were headed towards a populated region. Past interceptor systems used in the Persian Gulf conflicts by the U.S. had lower success rates.

Ballistic missile interception is a more unproven art. Ballistic missiles are bigger (and hence a bigger target), but are also generally faster than the kind of small rockets Iron Dome or Patriot-missile (U.S.) interceptor systems target. Israel has an interceptor system of its own dubbed Arrow, which the U.S. co-founded and shares technology from. Fortunately, that system has never been called upon in a real war scenario.

This is almost certainly an attempt to extort more aid and the dropping of sanctions.

This has been their approach in the past, and it's always worked, so why would they not expect it to work again?

Nevertheless, South Korea would be EXTREMELY reluctant to engage in any form of military force against the North, as they are fully aware that the North have more than enough conventional rockets, missiles and artillery available, to totally devastate Seoul within a matter of hours, and are just crazy enough to believe they could get away with it.

"This is about the Internet. Everything on the Internet is encrypted. This is not a BlackBerry-only issue. If they can't deal with the Internet, they should shut it off." -- RIM co-CEO Michael Lazaridis